1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing printing products, such as newspapers, periodicals and the like, arriving in an imbricated formation of a certain length and having an approximately equal imbrication spacing between adjacent products. The invention additionally relates to a bundle produced by this method.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods of this type are known, for example, from German Patent Publication 33 30 485 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,688,368 and 4,844,256. In these methods, the printing products, arriving in an imbricated formation of a certain length and with approximately equal imbrication spacings between the products, are rolled up, beginning from one end of the imbricated formation. A wrapping or strap is laid around the printing product roll which is thus formed, and holds the printing product roll together. The bundle, thus formed, is ready to dispatch, and is able to be manipulated by hand. Such a bundle is extremely stable and simple to handle. The individual printing products are removed from the center of the bundle.
An apparatus for producing such portable, tubular bundles is known, for example, from European Patent Application 313 781 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,015. Furthermore, European Patent Application 243 906 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,548 teach how to improve the handling of such bundles by providing the bundles with a carrying loop, which consists of an elongated carrying element running through the inside and on the outside of the printing product roll.
However, the end users of bundles of printing products, for example, kiosk vendors or newspaper and periodical contractors, often prefer, for individual or multiple removal of printing products, that the products be arranged in a stack-shaped bundle rather than a tubular bundle. As is generally known, in order to comply with this preference, the printing products, arriving in an imbricated formation, are stacked vertically in a vertical stacking compartment and pressed together. Such is disclosed, for example, in German Patent Publication 27 52 514 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,052. There subsequently follows an intermediate transportation of the stack of printing products, which lie loosely, one on top of the other, to a packing station. In the packing station, the stack is provided, by means of a wrapping machine, with a protective wrapping. Such a wrapping may be, for example, of plastic sheet, and the wrapped stack is subsequently strapped to keep it together. For this strapping, which is often what is known as a "cross-strapping", cord or plastic strip is usually used. The end user then has to remove this strapping and the protective wrapping. However, the production of such stacked, ready-to-dispatch bundles is much more complicated than the production of tubular bundles. Furthermore, tubular bundles can be stacked, i.e., on pallets, more stably than conventionally stacked bundles for dispatch with longitudinal axes of the bundles running vertically.